Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.

Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.

Every country has the government it deserves.

Politics is the art of the possible.

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham.

A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.